


RV Hunters

by afreezingnote



Series: A Union of Legends [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Friendship, M/M, Pre-Threesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-22
Packaged: 2018-03-08 14:43:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3212954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afreezingnote/pseuds/afreezingnote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean would never have admitted this when Bobby was alive, but his favorite auto salvage shop was owned by a guy named Alan Carson in Nebraska.</p><p>In which Dean buys Benny an old RV, and he and Cas fix it up together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	RV Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for the long hiatus. I've started working on the second chapter of Extra Stability in this series. I can make no promises about when it will be done, except for that it will be, eventually. 
> 
> Warning for a small discussion that brings up a bit of effemaphobia and John Winchester's bad parenting.

Dean would never have admitted this when Bobby was alive, but his favorite auto salvage shop was owned by a guy named Alan Carson in Nebraska.  He and Bobby had known each other when Karen was alive.  They had been friendly and kept in contact to send parts between their shops when customers had a need for it.  Dean liked Alan’s place because it was well-organized.  The cars were parked in bunches according to make and model, there were separate groupings for motorcycles and other vehicles, and he adjusted his prices depending on the age and rarity of a part as well as whether or not you pulled it yourself or had one of Alan’s workers do it for you.  Dean had gotten most of the parts he needed to repair the Impala over the years through Alan.  

Alan’s shop was almost directly between the bunker and Sioux Falls, nearer to South Dakota than Kansas, so the location couldn’t be better, and Dean already had something Alan had in mind for his idea.  He wanted to do something for Benny as a thank you for everything he’d done from agreeing to decapitation in order to rescue Sam to keeping him grounded and giving him space as the effects of the mark of Cain tore through him in Purgatory.  And, of course, for allowing himself to be convinced to give earth another shot.  Dean hoped the gift could be a symbol of choice for Benny, something that made it clear Dean would be glad for him to stick around if that’s what he wanted but also provide more comfort than the truck and trailer he had been using if he wanted to leave or just move around occasionally.

...

“You’re interested in that honkin’ piece of shit, Winchester?” Alan asked, looking over at the 1986 Airstream 345 Classic towering above the other vehicles in the lot.

“Yeah.  I’ve got this friend I owe big time, and I was thinking of fixin’ it up for him.”

“The engine in it is blown, and it’ll be harder to find parts for it than it is for your girl.”

“That’s okay.  He’s worth the effort.”

Alan gestured toward the motorcycles where Cas was still looking at the gleaming indigo motorcycle Dean had pointed out on the walk up with a quiet remark of how nice Cas would look on it.  “Is that the friend you owe?”

Dean glanced over at Cas and smiled.  “No, that’s my—Cas.”

“Your Cas, huh?” Alan’s smile had a teasing edge.

“Uh, well, actually yeah.  That’s _my_ Cas,” Dean said with the slightest edge.

“Hey, no judgment from me, man.  I’ve got two moms now.  Ma met Carolyn a few years after Dad passed, and they’re happy,” Alan said.

“Good for her,” Dean said, relieved.  “Cas sure ain’t what I expected, but we’ve been through a lot of shit together, stuff nobody else could appreciate.  I’m lucky he’s dumb enough to want me back.”

Dean watched Cas drift back toward them over Alan’s shoulder.  When he spoke, Alan nearly jumped out of his skin.  “I can understand the aerodynamic advantages, but I suspect your interest was in the color.”

“You think so?”

“I do,” Cas said.

“You know what I think?” Dean asked.  “I think you get a kick out of sneaking up on people.  I thought it was just me.”

Cas resisted the upwards twitch of his lips, but Dean was well-practiced at catching the tiny curl at the corner of his mouth.  “Perhaps,” Cas said.

Dean nudged Cas’s arm with his shoulder.

“If you’re sure about the Airstream,” Alan said, “I’ll give it to you for thirty-five hundred.”

“Dude, you’re kidding,” Dean said.  “Those things are crazy expensive.  Even with a busted engine, this one’s gotta be worth at least 7000 bucks.”

“Yeah, well.  You’re my best customer, Dean, and you’ll be doing me a favor getting it out of here.  It’s been sitting there for how many years?”

“It was ten years ago when I saw it the first time.”

“Exactly.  Nobody’s ever gonna buy it, and those tires are rotten, which will be a helluva hastle.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright then.”

“Good deal,” Alan said, sticking out his hand.  After they shook on it, Alan lead the way back to the office.  “How are you gonna get that thing out of here?  I know you wouldn’t hurt your girl trying.”

“Oh, no.  We’re gonna drive up to Bobby’s, borrow his truck, and take it back up there so I can work on it in his shop,” Dean said.

“The old man left you the place?” Alan asked.

“Yeah.  It’s about time I give it some attention.”

“You gonna rebuild the house?” Alan asked, moving behind his desk and rifling around for his receipt book.

Dean fished out a clip of cash earned in a dozen or so pool halls, flipping back 50’s until he had the right amount, and handed the battered bills over to Alan.  “I dunno.  I’ve thought about it, but I should talk to my brother about it.  The shop’s mostly undamaged though.  I’ve been thinking about expanding it and converting it into a restoration shop to give myself something to do when I’m too old to do the shit I do now.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Alan said, punctuating the end of his sentence with the shhhrip of the perforations at the top of the page and handing it to Dean.

“We’ll probably be able to make it back up here by Friday to pick her up.”

“Alright.  I’ll see you then,” Alan said.

“Later Alan,” Dean said.

* * *

“I didn’t expect Alan to cut me such a good deal, so we can really trick this baby out for Benny before we give it to him.  So, what do you say, Cas, you got your wings on?”

“Of course, Dean,” Cas said, deadpan as ever.  “They aren’t detachable.”

“Smartass.”  Dean smirked as he stepped into Cas’s space to smooth his coat collar before tipping his chin up.  As Dean brought their faces together, his smile gentled to see Cas’s eyelashes flutter and come to rest against his cheeks.  He rewarded Cas’s anticipation with a sweet, lingering kiss.

“Where would you like to go?” Cas asked, betraying a hint of breathlessness.

“Somewhere we can get home furnishings.  Sheets, pillows, curtains.”

“There are several hundred options within a one hundred mile radius; however, we could also visit China to look at hand-woven silk products.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “I still don’t understand how you say shit like that with a straight face.”

“What shit?” Cas asked, the picture of innocence.

“Okay, _angel_.  There’s a place in downtown Sioux Falls.  Let’s go there first.”

...

Cas set them down in the alley next to the building they wanted.  Dean led the way into the store, headed for the bedding.  Colorful rows of jersey knit bundles lined the first section of shelves.

“These are on sale,” Cas said.  

“Yeah, but a high thread count is worth the extra money.  You’ve felt my sheets.  Does this compare?” Dean asked.

“No, this is scratchy comparatively,” Cas said.

“Exactly,” Dean said.  “We want a dark blue in this range.  No pattern.”

Cas had drifted to the end of the aisle and held up a bed set for Dean’s examination.  “How’s this?”

“It looks perfect,” Dean said.  He grabbed two pillows off of endcap display and tossed them into their cart.  “Let’s go check out the curtains.”

“What are we looking for here?” Cas asked when they’d wandered over to the correct section of the store.

“We want a matching color, but curtains can be patterned,” Dean said.

He pulled the edge of a demo curtain with a gold damask design on a navy background.  “See this is too busy for a guy like Benny, but those stripes,” Dean said, pointing behind Cas.  “Those stripes could work.”

…

“You’re good at this,” Cas said as they stood in the checkout line.

“What?” Dean asked.

“You have an instinct for style,” Cas said.

Dean coughed as his cheeks tinged red.  Cas tilted his head.

“Why does that embarrass you?” Cas asked.

“It’s actually something that I enjoy now that I can, but I still feel guilty about it sometimes because it’s something my dad would have thought was unmanly,” Dean said.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand the restrictions humans place on gender,” Cas said.

“You probably don’t want to.  It’s dumb,” Dean said.

Cas handed Dean the items from their cart as Dean placed them on the counter, letting Dean handle pleasantries with the cashier.  As they walked their bags out to the Impala, Cas asked, “Where to next?”

“We’ll hit up the thrift store on the corner to see what we can find,” Dean said.

* * *

Dean and Cas did manage to make it back out to Alan’s place by Friday.  It took a considerable amount of time to hunt down all the replacement parts afterward, but once Dean had everything, repairs were simple enough.  Cas was committed to spending time with Dean as he fixed the old RV up, and he turned out to be a great help.  Who needed an engine hoist when you had an angel?  

When Dean had felt daunted by the clean-up and patchwork necessary for the inside of the RV, Cas had sat next to him in the grass and calmly asked him what his plans were.  After letting Dean explain in-depth, Cas interrupted him before he could outline the difficulties they would encounter in manifesting his ideas.

“Do you mean something like this?” Cas asked, opening the door to the RV and gesturing Dean inside.  

Dean’s jaw dropped open.  He’d done some research on the model and realized that the Airstream’s previous owners had converted and refurbished some of the furniture, including making the queen bed into twins.  The reupholstered couch was a significant step up.  In spite of those improvements, there had been a lot that Dean had wanted to alter or update, but now every detail he had discussed with Cas was in place.

“You magic bastard,” Dean said, awestruck.  “You just saved me a hell of a lot of trouble, but isn’t this kind of an abuse of heavenly mojo?”

Cas rolled his eyes.  “The mojo is mine, and I’ll do with it what I please.”

“Cas,” Dean said.  He turned around, already close enough that he didn’t need to step into Cas’s space to curl an arm around his shoulders.  “I love you.”

The words still felt strange on his tongue, unused to saying them and wanting to say them because they were the only way to express the truth inside him, but the way Cas’s eyes crinkled with joy made every moment of struggle worth it.

“I love you too, Dean,” Cas said.

They descended the stairs and stood on the grass where they had been sitting minutes before, looking at their work.  The formerly weathered RV now gleamed, proud and roadworthy once more.

“She’s ready to go home,” Dean said.

“So are we,” Cas said.

Dean caught their pinkies together briefly, not quite holding hands but meaning the same thing.

“We’ll drive her down and come back for the Impala,” Dean said.

“I’ll bring your Baby home when we get back,” Cas said.

“Thanks, Cas,” Dean said, drifting back toward the shop while patting his pockets.  “Now where did I put the keys for this thing?”

“They’re in the Impala’s glove compartment,” Cas said.

“Oh,” Dean said, turning around mid-stride with a crooked smile quirking his lips.

Five minutes later, they were on the highway headed to Kansas.

…

They got back to the bunker in the early hours of the morning.  Dean knew Benny might be awake—vampires do sleep, but they don’t need as much as humans—but he was too exhausted to jump into an emotional scene at the moment.  He and Cas moved silently through the hallways, slipping unnoticed into his room.  Cas didn’t need to sleep at all, but he’d started staying with Dean whenever he could after they had a conversation about how, if he was going to be there anyway, it would erase the creepiness altogether if Cas would just get his ass in the bed.  At least that had been easier for Dean than _asking_ to cuddle.

…

Benny walked into the dining area adjacent from the kitchen just as Dean and Sam were finishing breakfast.

“Mornin’,” Benny said as he ambled through on the way to get coffee.

“Hey, Benny,” Dean said, getting up to follow him to the kitchen.  “I have something to show you.”

“What’s that, Dean?” Benny asked.  He selected a mug from the cabinet and turned to the coffeemaker.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” Dean said.

Benny gave him a skeptical look through the steam rising from his mug.  “Lead the way, brother,” he said.

Dean took them through the garage and to the doors behind the Men of Letters’ old cars.  As they walked, Dean said, “So, you know you have your room here, and you’re always welcome.  But I think it’s important for you not to feel tied down here if you don’t want to be stationary.  So, Cas and I have been working on something for you.  You put up with a lot of shit from me, man, and you’ve been nothing but supportive.  So, this is a way to say thanks for everything and give you that freedom.”

Dean pushed one door open and went outside.  When he felt the heat of Benny standing at his shoulder, he said, “This is it.  She’s for you.  I know you and Elizabeth are working on hashing things out, and this might help make the trips easier on you.”

Dean dug in his pocket, fishing out the keys to the RV.

“You’ll be needing these,” he continued, holding the gleaming ring of keys out to Benny.

Benny opened his palm, waiting for Dean to drop the keys before walking up to the Airstream and placing a hand on its silver side.

“Where’d you find this lovely old lady?” Benny asked.

“I know a guy in Nebraska.  Had her sitting on his lot for years, wasting away,” Dean said.

“But you fixed her up,” Benny said.

“Yeah.  If you think she looks good on the outside, wait until you get inside her,” Dean said, trying to bring levity to the moment with innuendo.

Benny rolled his eyes but moved to fit the key into the door lock anyway.  He whistled, impressed, as he stepped inside.   Benny let his fingers drift over the back of the couch and the edge of the countertop in the miniature kitchen area as he surveyed the Airstream’s interior on the way toward the bedroom.  The color scheme and patterns were complementary throughout each part of the RV, from the throw pillows on the couch to the curtains and the bed set, and it all looked as if it would fit on the pages of a travel magazine.

“This is really nice,” Benny said.  “I don’t know what to say, brother.”

Dean ducked his head, a pleased grin spreading across his face.

“So you like her?” Dean asked.

“Yeah,” Benny said.  “Thank you, Dean.  You know, you been good to me too.  Things’ve been easier this time around with the support system.”

“You shoulda had that the first time,” Dean said.

Benny shrugged.  “I ain’t complaining.  I’m glad I got a second chance is all I’m saying.”

“Still.  I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.”

“Hey, come here,” Benny said.

Dean looked at him questioningly.  Benny opened his arms impatiently.  

“Bring it in.  Come on.  I ain’t got time for your hang-ups about showing people you care for them,” Benny said.

Dean laughed dryly but accepted Benny’s brief, tight hug.

“What do you say we take this baby for a spin?” Benny asked, rattling the keys.

“Sounds good,” Dean said.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, as always.


End file.
